Other than cost and not needing a power source, is there any advantage to a passive direct box over an active one? Is there a situation where a passive DI would be better?
Other than cost and not needing a power source, is there any advantage to a passive direct box over an active one? Is there a situation where a passive DI would be better?
Other than cost and not needing a power source, is there any advantage to a passive direct box over an active one? Is there a situation where a passive DI would be better?
Remember that an active DI is really just a boutique pre-amp with fixed gain, attached to a line driver.
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Remember that an active DI is really just a boutique pre-amp with fixed gain, attached to a line driver.
Not sure what gave you that idea. ~~:smile: All professional active DI boxes that have pads have them on their input to keep a high level input from overloading the active circuitry. EG:The pad in typical active DI (AFAIK) is generally in the output stage to drop the instrument level down to mic preamp level, or low enough to not overload a typical mic input.
[FONT="]ARCHITECT'S AND ENGINEER'S SPECIFICATION[/FONT]
[FONT="]AR-133 Active DI Box / Line Balancer[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Active Direct Inject box shall provide a transformer balanced and isolated feed from a source input via a 1/4" TRS jack or 3-pin XLR-type connector. The output of the DI box shall be via an XLR connector. The unit shall also provide a 1/4" TRS jack in parallel with the input to act as a link for line bridging. The link shall be a direct feed from the input, or shall optionally be fed from an actively buffered input signal.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The unit shall be powered either via a phantom power source, or via a standard PP3 type 9 volt battery. An led shall illuminate continuously to show power is provided by a phantom source, or flash approximately every 2 seconds if powered by the battery. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Switches shall be provided for: EARTH LIFT (output pin 1 disconnected from unit ground), INPUT ATTENUATION (of 0, 20 or 40dB), and Power On/Off.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The unit shall be housed in an aluminium extrusion fitted with isolating side-cheeks. The unit shall be sufficiently screened so it is not susceptible to external magnetic fields.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Active DI box shall be the BSS Audio AR-133.[/FONT]
Not sure what gave you that idea. ~~:smile: All professional active DI boxes that have pads have them on their input to keep a high level input from overloading the active circuitry. EG:
View attachment 867
The only issue is unless you bought it new than the polarity could be either Pin 2 or Pin 3 hot. I bought one new and it's Pin3 hot (they make them this way) and I own 2 used (One Pin 3 and the other was modded for Pin 2). Does this matter? yes and no. if I tried to put them on a stereo key line it will work until that key player goes to a Wurly patch which is Dual Mono. At that point cancellation city.